The Angriest Angel

Epilogue

Darcia shook the glowcube until a faint light began to emit from its center, and placed it onto one of the chest-high shelves before her.  As the light grew brighter and brighter, the shadows in the room retreated, allowing her to see everything.  

It was more like a closet than a room.  There were evenly spaced shelves lining all four walls, and on each shelf there were neatly stacked piles of clothing.  It was all organized by style, size, and of course, gender. 

She had seen similar clothing in video feeds from Earth, but it was nothing like seeing the real thing up close and personal—these were actual objects from the planet itself! 

"Aliena vestes," she mumbled, but then shook her head at her lack of discipline.  "English—always," she scolded herself.  It was important to use English whenever possible to prepare for adaptation.

"Earth clothing," she whispered, using the proper dialect this time.

Reaching out to touch a dark blue sweater, her eyes glanced at the label which read cashmere.  The material felt soft underneath her hand as she glided over it and mouthed the word "cashmere."   Darcia was well aware that understanding the clothing was equally as important as wearing it.  Fitting in was no small thing, and its importance was hammered over and over in her final days of training this week.

Fourteen Dharma Praeceptors had volunteered to travel to Earth, but in the end it was Darcia who was chosen.  She was singled out for this mission because of her strong grasp on iratus magisterium—the Caelan art of anger mastery.  As religious leaders, all Dharma Praeceptors understood anger—its roots and origins, its pitfalls, even its context on the planet Earth—where it still existed among its people in plenty. 

Despite the extinction of anger on Caelus, all Caelans were aware that the planet Earth had not, although few knew how troubling the problem had become there.  The Caelans living on Earth were not only infected by anger, they were unable to break free of it.

It was now Darcia's job to travel to Earth—through the quarantine—and attempt to help her people identify and solve the anger problem.  Why were they suddenly becoming angry?  How many people were affected?  And—why now?

Why now, indeed.

Darcia was confident in her ability to fix the problem, provided that she could identify what happened—where things went wrong.  But that's what gave her pause.  The Caelans had a presence on Earth for fifty years without issue.  It made no sense that this would happen now, of all times.

The pressure on her to succeed was palpable.  If she were unable to resolve the crisis, it was unlikely that she could return home.  She would be stuck behind the quarantine along with everyone else.  And what then?  If she couldn't help her people, then who could?  It was unlikely the Caelan leadership would risk the infection somehow spreading to the rest of Caelus, feeding her fear that she may be stuck there permanently.

But there was one thought that bothered her even more, and it was quite symbolic of this entire situation.  It confirmed how truly profound the anger problem was.  Despite the appreciation and admiration from the people of Caelus for her risk—her sacrifice—what would the Caelans living on Earth think? 

Would she even be welcome at all?

The adventure continues in book 2 of The Angriest Angel series, The Emancipation Pattern which is NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon.com (only $0.99 USD).

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